Real Estate at The Sail Inn, 11/14/11

​I'm not stoked on the current sound of "indie." Real Estate play things more on the traditional jangle pop/C86 side of things, but the band fits into the nebulous state of indie rock circa 2011 -- chillwave over there, lo-fi in the corner, new wave revivalism out back.

The pretentious assholes trying to discover the next big indie band on Sirius/XM are just as annoying to me as they are to you.

Which was precisely why I was hesitant about going to see this band at The Sail Inn. Yep, there were a bunch of pretentious indie kids packing the place, but Real Estate's performance deserved more credit.

Nicole Smith

​Real Estate sounds exactly like the do on tape -- minus a
few glitches with the sound guy, who seemed to have trouble throughout the night, starting with opening acts (and
local hot dude rocker icon) Ryan Rousseau and His (aptly named) Desert Children and Garden State rockers Big Troubles.

The small number in attendance had me worried: Were there weird crossover fans at GWAR and Black Carl? Eh, not really. Once 10:30 hit, Real Estate brought a crowd.

The band has a pleasant, downcast Galaxie 500 feel, but mostly, they sound like any other college-radio fave or coffee-house playlist band. A few times, on songs like "Suburban Dogs" and show closer "Younger Than Yesterday," they roused me from my sleepy state with sophisticated interplay and swoon-worthy riffs.